If he got past December 12, no court in Indiana could ever undo what he’d done to Daniel’s accounts.

“Full legal title to all real estate, bank holdings and disputed accounts is returned to Clara Miller effective immediately,” Judge Miller announced, bringing his wooden gavel down once on the sound block.

Sophie squeezed my forearm beside the wooden railing, her thumb digging into my coat sleeve.

I turned the silver band on my right ring finger three times, feeling the cold metal press into my skin as the court reporter typed the last line.

At three thirty Assistant Prosecutor Higgins called us into a corner office that smelled of old carpet, wet coats and printer paper.